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There are a few small towns in Minnesota where you will see an officer posted up right where the highway turns from 65mph to 45mph through town. They will be th

There are a few small towns in Minnesota where you will see an officer posted up right where the highway turns from 65mph to 45mph through town. They will be there almost all day, without fail. I don't think it's a coincidence that their cruisers are all brand new. It's obviously a source of income more than anything.

ComputerGuru 7y ago
Yes, but thanks to this report you can now prove it and see how prevalent this practice is.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
drivers99 7y ago
There aren't any Minnesota towns on the map in the article so it must not be more than 10%, presumably. It is interesting to see some towns that are famous in my local area for it: Morrison, CO (45.3%). 150,000 drivers pass through it daily, with a population of 431. It's hard to argue with as they stop people if they're going 15 MPH over the limit. [1] I think people here just get used to the lack of enforcement of the other cities. Mountain View, CO is only 0.09 sq mi (0.24 km2), population ~528. Sandwiched between Denver and the next suburb over, writes more tickets combined than Denver, Boulder, and Aurora. A lot of the tickets are for things like seatbelts and cracked windshields [2]. [1] https://www.speedtrap.org/colorado/morrison/ https://www.speedtrap.org/colorado/morrison/ Quote: "They got me going 41 in a 25. $135 ticket. They are making a killing by gouging people for no reason so beware!" LOL [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_View,_Colorado#Police_department_controversies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_View,_Colorado#Police...
- lazerpants 7y ago
  I'm not sure if 285 technically runs through Morrison, but there are lots of tickets issued right there because it is essentially a highway but has a low speed limit. They could raise the speed limit by 10-20mph and it would probably still be safe. There are also several elevation changes that make it easier for a traffic officer to hide. Weird that Mountain View is in the mix. Maybe it's just a statistical anomaly because the "town" is tiny and is actually in a metro area and may include a portion I-70.
  - drivers99 7y ago
    If you search for either town in Google Maps, it draws their boundaries, which will be useful for this thread. Morrison looks like a gerrymander: it runs along roads, and has some other parts that are unused pieces of land, and doesn't include private property that is being used even though it is next to it. It really does look like it was designed to cover roads that have nothing to do with the actual downtown part of Morrison. Mountain View is between W 41st Ave and W 44th Ave (which looks like a fairly busy road). I just noticed they are only at 5.3% in the report though. [1] That's not even 10% (and a lot more than Morrison's 45%.) Since you mentioned I-70, on the other hand there is Lakeside: Mountain View actually borders another tiny "town" (population 8), Lakeside, which consists of a lake, shopping center, and amusement park, and I-70 and related on/off-ramps. According to the map in the report [1], Lakeside is on the map but at 13.5% revenue from tickets. [1] https://www.governing.com/topics/finance/fine-fee-revenues-special-report.html https://www.governing.com/topics/finance/fine-fee-revenues-s...

ComputerGuru 7y ago

Yes, but thanks to this report you can now prove it and see how prevalent this practice is.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

drivers99 7y ago

There aren't any Minnesota towns on the map in the article so it must not be more than 10%, presumably. It is interesting to see some towns that are famous in my local area for it: Morrison, CO (45.3%). 150,000 drivers pass through it daily, with a population of 431. It's hard to argue with as they stop people if they're going 15 MPH over the limit. [1] I think people here just get used to the lack of enforcement of the other cities. Mountain View, CO is only 0.09 sq mi (0.24 km2), population ~528. Sandwiched between Denver and the next suburb over, writes more tickets combined than Denver, Boulder, and Aurora. A lot of the tickets are for things like seatbelts and cracked windshields [2]. [1] https://www.speedtrap.org/colorado/morrison/ https://www.speedtrap.org/colorado/morrison/ Quote: "They got me going 41 in a 25. $135 ticket. They are making a killing by gouging people for no reason so beware!" LOL [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_View,_Colorado#Police_department_controversies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_View,_Colorado#Police...

lazerpants 7y ago
I'm not sure if 285 technically runs through Morrison, but there are lots of tickets issued right there because it is essentially a highway but has a low speed limit. They could raise the speed limit by 10-20mph and it would probably still be safe. There are also several elevation changes that make it easier for a traffic officer to hide. Weird that Mountain View is in the mix. Maybe it's just a statistical anomaly because the "town" is tiny and is actually in a metro area and may include a portion I-70.
- drivers99 7y ago
  If you search for either town in Google Maps, it draws their boundaries, which will be useful for this thread. Morrison looks like a gerrymander: it runs along roads, and has some other parts that are unused pieces of land, and doesn't include private property that is being used even though it is next to it. It really does look like it was designed to cover roads that have nothing to do with the actual downtown part of Morrison. Mountain View is between W 41st Ave and W 44th Ave (which looks like a fairly busy road). I just noticed they are only at 5.3% in the report though. [1] That's not even 10% (and a lot more than Morrison's 45%.) Since you mentioned I-70, on the other hand there is Lakeside: Mountain View actually borders another tiny "town" (population 8), Lakeside, which consists of a lake, shopping center, and amusement park, and I-70 and related on/off-ramps. According to the map in the report [1], Lakeside is on the map but at 13.5% revenue from tickets. [1] https://www.governing.com/topics/finance/fine-fee-revenues-special-report.html https://www.governing.com/topics/finance/fine-fee-revenues-s...